Author: Fred D

  • Brokenness

    This morning this klutso inadvertently bumped into a painted bracket fungus with a pastoral scene hanging on the wall. It fell to the floor, breaking into three pieces . . . Arrrrrgh! Bought four decades ago, the painting of an actual Central Square, NY barn built in 1830 evokes fond memories of an earlier era…

  • The Huddle

    Gratefully Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is now beginning to show “promising signs” of recovery since his chilling near death experience suffered during last Monday evening’s Cincinnati Bengals/Buffalo Bills NFL game. The unhindered unity displayed among the players on both teams blessed me as tears replaced tackles; compassion eliminated competition; and prayer prevailed. May God…

  • A Ragamuffin’s Regretful ‘If Only”s

    ‘Woulda’…’coulda’ …’shoulda’ … Life’s ‘if only’s that can block out the bright sunshine with dark stratocumulus clouds of regret. Intriguing that “if” resides smack dab in the middle of LIFE. Regret is “If Only’s” synonym. The dictionary defines regret as, “To feel sorry, disappointed, distressed, or remorseful about. To remember with a feeling of loss…

  • 2023 New Year Resolution

    Adolph Ochs, the owner of the New York Times, organized the first Times Square New Year’s Ball Drop on December 31, 1907. Save for wartime blackouts in 1942 (the year I was born ☹) and 1943, this iconic event has welcomed in every New Year ever since. In today’s vernacular,’ dropping the ball’ means to…

  • Water’s Frozen Physics

    Physics 101 teaches that heat causes expansion, cold contraction. Thus, hot air is less dense than cold air and rises, while cold air sinks. Not water . . . this indispensable renegade of physics possesses the unique property of being denser in liquid form than in solid, so ice floats . . . Good thing!…

  • From Our Home to Yours @ Christmas

    Jesus . . . born once . . . that we may be born twice Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

  • Brrrrrrrrr!

    50 Degree Rhododendron Zero Degree Rhododendron The Great Smoky Mountains has joined much of our nation’s pre-Christmas frigid cold snap . . . the coldest temperatures recorded here in a quarter century! At our digs up here on the mountain > down in the ‘holler’ > over the ‘crick’, the temperature plummeted from near 50…

  • Never Alone

    A 2018 UK survey of loneliness during Christmas revealed that 17% of people felt lonely during this festive time. I suspect it may be even more in our tragically divided nation. This morning at a men’s breakfast the issue of Christmas loneliness came up. It brought to mind a story I once read regarding the…

  • The Gift of Others

    Christmas blessings from our home to yours. In whatever circumstances and wherever this may reach you, may it find you and yours resting assured in knowing His Best is Yet to Come! This momentary adventure called Life is more often experienced in its valleys than on the mountaintops. Suffice it to say my 2022’s sojourn…

  • Delightfully Delusional

    Yesterday marked my 29,220 day on terra firma . . . it’s weird being the same age as old people! 😊 My younger, ever-patient spouse, who has tread this planet a mere 25,553 days, consoled me by baking a scrumptious Hummingbird birthday cake (pure manna!), and giving me a shiny, new coffee percolator to ensure…